“My first position was leftback,” he said. Sensing a sudden excitement among his audience, the Chelsea winger was quick to add: “I am talking Under-10s. Under-10s! I have never played left-back since. I was tiny and I just got put left-back. Then when I was 12 I moved further and further up.”
But Palmer’s has been a career of unconventional moves, where he has been reinvented to ever greater effect. When he left Manchester City for Chelsea, he was not expecting a return of 22 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League alone. The man who turned Pep Guardiola down has been turned into a cause celebre, the player many want to add excitement to an uninspired international team.
Like many an England international of the recent past, he owes a debt of gratitude to Mauricio Pochettino, who oversaw his transition from City substitute to Footballer of the Year candidate. “When he left I was gutted,” Palmer said. “A different manager might not have given me that freedom and opportunity to do what I did at Chelsea.” But he has been reunited with another who has already had a catalytic impact on his career.
“I had Enzo [Maresca] at City Under-21s for a season and then he went to Parma,” he said. “Then when I went up with Pep [to the first team] he came back as Pep’s assistant.”
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 29, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 29, 2024 من The Independent.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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